‘Rick And Morty’ Co-Creator Dan Harmon In Trouble After Old ‘Baby Doll Rape’ Video Surfaces Online
Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon finds himself in trouble after an old and bizarre sketch he made in 2009 is doing the rounds online thanks to far-right 4chan users and members of The_Donald subreddit, reports Polygon.
The sketch, titled “Daryl,” was a spoof of Dexter, starring Harmon as a “baby rapist with a heart of gold” as opposed to Dexter, who was portrayed as a “serial killer with a heart of gold.” In the weirdly distasteful sketch, Harmon is seen breaking into an apartment before pulling down his pants and pretending to rape a plastic baby doll.
The sketch initially appeared at Channel 101, a short film festival founded by Harmon which often showcased risqué content. But it was taken down in 2012, as noted by Vulture, and since then people had forgotten about it. But now it is receiving renewed attention after far-right bloggers dug up the video before it spread to the The_Donald subreddit, where users warned Trump critics of facing consequences for laughing at Trump or his supporters.
“They went after us for making jokes a lot less worse than this, we warned them it would backfire on them too, but they don’t listen do they?” a popular post on The_Donald read.
The video finally spread to the Twitter handle of Mike Cernovich, the alt-right commentator and broadcaster who was instrumental in Disney’s recent firing of James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy 3 due to past offensive tweets.
Dan Harmon has issued an apology and deleted his Twitter account after graphic video in which he sexually violates a baby doll resurfaced online.
Full story: https://t.co/pd5W5y4H6G pic.twitter.com/jKIX1QxZ1k— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) July 24, 2018
The video, since it went viral, has elicited a wide range of responses from people on either side of the political spectrum. While far-right commentators are cherishing the new movement that seeks to target comedians and creators who are vehement critics of Trump, many others have said people like Gunn and Harmon are becoming scapegoats in a deeply polarized internet environment. One particularly interesting response came from Reddit, where a user posted an excerpt from Harmon’s Rick and Morty. The post has gone on to be upvoted nearly 12,000 times.
In the face of increasing backlash, Harmon has now left Twitter and released a statement apologizing to those who found the contents of his baby rape video offensive.
“In 2009, I made a ‘pilot’ which strove to parody the series Dexter and only succeeded in offending,” Harmon said in a statement to USA Today. “I quickly realized the content was way too distasteful and took the video down immediately. Nobody should ever have to see what you saw and for that, I sincerely apologize.”
